Operation Paravane

Operation Paravane was a British air raid of World War II that inflicted heavy damage on the German battleship ''Tirpitz'', at anchor in Kaafjord in the far north of German-occupied Norway. The attack was conducted on 15 September 1944 by 21 Royal Air Force heavy bombers, which flew from an airfield in the north of the Soviet Union. The battleship was struck by one bomb, and further damaged by several near misses. This damage rendered ''Tirpitz'' unfit for combat, and she could not be repaired as it was no longer possible for the Germans to sail her to a major port.

The attack on 15 September followed a series of largely unsuccessful raids conducted against ''Tirpitz'' by Royal Navy aircraft carriers between April and August 1944, that sought to sink or disable the battleship at her anchorage, so that she no longer posed a threat to Allied convoys travelling to and from the Soviet Union. The first of these raids was successful, but the other attacks failed due to shortcomings with the Fleet Air Arm's strike aircraft and the formidable German defences. As a result, the task of attacking the battleship was transferred to the RAF's Bomber Command. Avro Lancaster bombers from the Command's two elite squadrons flew to their staging airfield in the Soviet Union on the night of 11/12 September, and attacked on 15 September using heavy bombs and air-dropped mines. All of the British aircraft returned to base, though one of the Lancasters later crashed during its flight back to the United Kingdom.

Following Operation Paravane, the German Navy's commander decided to use ''Tirpitz'' as a static artillery battery to protect the town of Tromsø. The Allies were unable to confirm the extent of the battleship's damage, and conducted two more heavy bomber raids against her in late 1944, Operation Obviate on 29 October, and Operation Catechism on 12 November. ''Tirpitz'' was sunk with considerable loss of life during the second of these attacks.

Background

From early 1942, ''Tirpitz'' posed a significant threat to the Allied convoys transporting supplies through the Norwegian Sea to the Soviet Union. Stationed in fjords on the Norwegian coast, the battleship was capable of overwhelming the close-escort forces of Arctic convoys or breaking out into the North Atlantic. Owing to the superiority of the Allied navies, ''Tirpitz'' rarely put to sea and only conducted three brief combat operations into the Norwegian Sea during her career. The Allies needed to keep a powerful force of warships with the British Home Fleet to counter the threat she posed and capital ships accompanied most convoys part of the way to the Soviet Union.

Royal Air Force (RAF) heavy bombers conducted a series of abortive raids on ''Tirpitz'' shortly after the battleship arrived in Norway from Germany in January 1942. ''Tirpitz'' was initially based at Fættenfjord near Trondheim, which lay within range of British bombers flying from Scotland. The first raid on 30 January involved nine Handley Page Halifax and seven Short Stirling bombers. Owing to cloud over the target area, only one of the bombers sighted ''Tirpitz'' and none inflicted damage. One Halifax crashed into the sea on its way back to Scotland and its crew were rescued. The next raid on Fættenfjord took place on 30 March, with the attacking force comprising 33 Halifaxes. The operation was again frustrated by heavy clouds over the target area. Four of the Halifaxes were shot down and two others crashed while returning to base. Another attack was mounted by 30 Halifaxes and 11 Avro Lancasters on the night of 27/28 April. Aircraft of the first wave located and attacked ''Tirpitz'' but no damage was inflicted and five bombers were lost. The final raid in this series took place the next night and involved 21 Halifaxes and 12 Lancasters. The attackers found ''Tirpitz'' covered in a protective smokescreen and the battleship again escaped damage; two British aircraft were destroyed.

Plans for further heavy bomber attacks on ''Tirpitz'' were developed throughout 1942, none took place. One of the options considered was to stage the bombers through a base in the northern Soviet Union but this was judged impractical as little was known about the suitability of Soviet airfields for heavy bombers. Two squadrons of RAF Coastal Command Handley Page Hampden torpedo bombers operated from Vaenga in northern Russia during mid-September 1942 to counter ''Tirpitz'' or any other German warships which attempted to attack Allied convoys but these aircraft did not make contact with the ship.

Further plans for air attacks on ''Tirpitz'' were developed during 1943 but none took place. During 1942 and 1943 British inventor Barnes Wallis tried to develop a version of his "bouncing bomb" for use against ''Tirpitz'' alongside the larger weapons that were used to attack several German dams during Operation Chastise on 16/17 May 1943. No. 618 Squadron was formed in April 1943 and equipped with de Havilland Mosquitos for this attack but trials of the "Highball" bouncing bombs during the year were unsuccessful and the plan was abandoned in September. ''Tirpitz'' was transferred to a new base at Kaafjord in the far north of Norway in late May 1943. This anchorage was well protected, with the defences including equipment capable of rapidly generating an artificial smokescreen as well as many anti-aircraft guns located in shore batteries and warships. During June 1943, consideration was given to attacking the battleship with United States Army Air Forces Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers. These aircraft would have flown from the United Kingdom to Kaafjord, landed in the Soviet Union and made another attack against ''Tirpitz'' on their return flight. Such a mission was judged to be impractical by the RAF as it was expected that German fighter aircraft would attack the bombers and Kaafjord would be covered by a smokescreen by the time they arrived over the target area. The only attack made against ''Tirpitz'' at Kaafjord by land-based aircraft prior to September 1944 was a small raid conducted by 15 Soviet bombers on the night of 10/11 February 1944, but it did not inflict any damage on the battleship.

The Royal Navy attacked ''Tirpitz'' at Kaafjord from September 1943 until August 1944. On 23 September 1943, the crews of two British midget submarines penetrated the defences around the battleship during Operation Source, and placed explosive charges in the water beneath her. This attack caused extensive damage to ''Tirpitz'', putting her out of service for six months. Further midget submarine attacks were not considered feasible and an air raid designated Operation Tungsten was conducted by Royal Navy aircraft carriers on 3 April 1944 as repairs to the battleship neared completion. ''Tirpitz'' did not suffer heavy damage in this operation but was out of action for several more months while repairs were completed. The Home Fleet sortied to attack Kaafjord on a further four occasions between April and July; all but the last of these operations were frustrated by bad weather and the Operation Mascot raid on 17 July did not inflict any damage on ''Tirpitz''. Four more carrier attacks targeting ''Tirpitz'' were undertaken between 22 and 29 August during Operation Goodwood but again resulted in only minor damage to the battleship.

Planning

Senior Royal Navy officers attributed the failure of the raids conducted between April and August 1944 to shortcomings with the Fleet Air Arm's main attack aircraft, the Fairey Barracuda. Although Operation Tungsten succeeded because the Germans were taken by surprise, during subsequent raids the slow speed of the Barracudas gave Kaafjord's defenders time to cover the area with artificial smoke before the British aircraft arrived over the target area. Moreover, the Barracudas were unable to carry bombs large enough to significantly damage ''Tirpitz'' when hits were achieved. As a result, before and after Operation Goodwood, further consideration was given to using Mosquitos to attack the battleship; under initial plans developed in mid-August these aircraft would have been launched from aircraft carriers and attacked ''Tirpitz'' with or armour-piercing bombs before landing in northern Russia. These proposals came to nothing as the Supreme Allied Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, was unwilling to release any Mosquitos in July, and in August the Mosquitos were also judged to be too slow to successfully reach Kaafjord from aircraft carriers before it was covered by smoke.

In August RAF Bomber Command, which controlled the force's heavy bombers, began developing plans to strike ''Tirpitz'' at Kaafjord. During a meeting on 28 August between the head of Bomber Command, Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris, and Vice-Chief of the Air Staff Air Marshal Douglas Evill, to discuss the feasibility of dispatching Mosquitos against Kaafjord, Harris stated that he had ready a plan to attack the battleship with Lancaster bombers. Under this plan, 24 Lancasters were to depart a base in the far north of Scotland, bomb ''Tirpitz'', and return to an airstrip in the Shetland Islands. If the return trip was judged impossible, the bombers would instead land at Murmansk in northern Russia before returning to the United Kingdom. Bomber Command's staff had contacted Soviet officials about the latter element of the plan, and concluded that it would be feasible. Owing to the complex nature of the mission, Bomber Command's two elite special duties units, No. 9 and No. 617 Squadrons, would conduct the attack. This proposal was viewed favourably, and was approved by Eisenhower's headquarters on 5 September.

No. 5 Group was assigned responsibility for planning the attack on ''Tirpitz'' in late August. The group's staff officers judged that it was essential for the raid to surprise Kaafjord's defenders so that the battleship was not covered in smoke by the time the Lancasters arrived. As the seaward approaches to the fjord were covered by a comprehensive radar network, the planners decided that the attack force should approach the region overland from the south-east and at a high speed to limit the defenders' warning time to eight minutes or less. Due to the difficulty of damaging the heavily armoured battleship, the main weapon selected for this operation was the Tallboy bomb, the largest then in service with the RAF and capable of penetrating well-protected targets. Some of the bombers were to be armed with "Johnnie Walker" (commonly called "JW") mines, which were designed to be dropped from aircraft and move through the water by rapidly diving and surfacing until they struck their target. The Tallboy had been successfully used by No. 617 Squadron against tunnels and other facilities, but the mines had not been used in combat, and Harris and several other senior RAF officers were sceptical of their effectiveness.

As test flights conducted by No. 617 Squadron proved that it was not possible to make a return trip to Kaafjord from Scotland, and an evaluation of the main airstrip in Shetland determined that it was unsuitable for Lancasters, No. 5 Group's staff officers judged that it would be necessary for the aircraft to refuel in the Soviet Union. Detailed investigation of the airstrips near Murmansk found that they were at best marginal for heavy bombers and had almost no accommodation or aircraft servicing facilities. Moreover, the airstrips were vulnerable to attack from fighters operating from nearby German bases. Instead, it was decided that the attack force should fly over northern Sweden and Finland after raiding Kaafjord and refuel at Yagodnik airstrip, which was on an island near Arkhangelsk. This plan was accepted by the Air Ministry on 6 September. Soviet Naval Aviation offered to attack German fighter bases at the same time as the British bombers arrived over the target area, but No. 5 Group rejected this proposal and requested that Soviet aircraft not fly near Kaafjord, to avoid alerting the Germans. Also in early September, five aircraft from No. 192 Squadron, which specialised in monitoring enemy radars, conducted sorties to locate German radar stations in northern Norway and identify any gaps in their coverage.

The operation order setting out how the raid was to be conducted was issued by No. 5 Group on 7 September. It stated that Kaafjord was believed to be protected by 16 heavy and 16 light anti-aircraft guns, as well as ''Tirpitz''s guns, and that it took the defenders ten minutes to cover the battleship with a smokescreen. The attack force was to be organised into two groups. Force A, comprising twelve Lancasters from No. 9 Squadron and an equal number from No. 617 Squadron armed with a single Tallboy each, was to continue to Yagodnik after bombing. Force B was to comprise six Lancasters from each of the squadrons armed with twelve JW mines and return directly to either Scotland or the Shetland Islands. A Lancaster from the RAF Film Unit, which was attached to No. 463 Squadron RAAF, would accompany Force B and also return to the United Kingdom after the bombers completed their attack. It was intended that the attack would be conducted in daylight, and that the Lancasters would assemble into formations near Kaafjord before attacking. If the fjord was covered by cloud or smoke, Force A was ordered to not drop its valuable bombs and continue onto Yagodnik. Force B was directed to drop the JW mines regardless of cloud or smoke cover as long as an aiming point could be identified. The entire attack group was to maintain strict radio silence. Two No. 511 Squadron Consolidated B-24 Liberator transport aircraft were assigned to carry maintenance personnel and supplies from the United Kingdom to Yagodnik, and a Mosquito fitted for photo reconnaissance tasks from No. 540 Squadron would scout ahead of the attack force. All aircrew were briefed on this plan on either 8 or 9 September. Group Captain C.C. McMullen, the commander of No. 9 Squadron's home base of RAF Bardney, was appointed the overall leader of the detachment. No. 617 Squadron's commanding officer, Wing Commander "Willy" Tait, was selected to lead the strike force.

To provide weather reports and damage assessments from Kaafjord, agents on the ground were needed, but the last radio group in the area had exfiltrated in May 1944. The first attempt at re-establishing a presence near ''Tirpitz'' occurred in August 1944, when a Norwegian Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) agent was dispatched to the nearby village of Alta. The agent infiltrated with a radio transmitter codenamed "Sinding" from neutral Sweden, but only managed to begin transmissions to the United Kingdom on 22 September, too late for the preparation stage for the operation. In a second attempt at establishing an agent group in the area, the Norwegian SIS agents Knut Moe and Anton Arild were dropped by parachute into the wilderness between Kaafjord and Alta on 8 September by an American Operation Carpetbagger Liberator. During the drop the agents became separated from most of their equipment, with the exception of the radio transmitter. Without weapons and equipment, the agents were forced to relocate to the village of Bossekop, where Moe's mother lived. The radio transmitter operated by the SIS team, codenamed "Aslaug", was operational by 13 September, sending weather reports to the United Kingdom every other hour. As well as reporting on the weather, Moe and Arild radioed assessments of the damage ''Tirpitz'' had suffered in the air attacks prior to Operation Paravane. Local contacts helped the agents in spying on ''Tirpitz'' before and after the 15 September attack. By the time of the attack, Moe and Arild had established an observation post overlooking ''Tirpitz''s anchorage in Kaafjord.

Preparations

The attack force was placed on alert to launch what had been designated Operation Paravane on 8 September. Good weather was vital for the operation, and the airmen waited at their home bases for the next two days as forecasts proved unfavourable. Meanwhile, the Air Ministry, No. 5 Group and British military liaison officers in the USSR continued to work with the relevant Soviet headquarters to finalise the arrangements for Force A's flight from Norway to Yagodnik.

Subsequent forecasts indicated that weather conditions at Kaafjord were changing rapidly, and during the morning of 11 September Harris judged that it would not be feasible to launch the bombers from Scotland with confidence that Kaafjord would be free of cloud by the time they arrived. Accordingly, he decided to change the plans for the operation, with all of the bombers now flying to Yagodnik first and mounting the attack from that airfield. Harris ordered the attack force to depart that afternoon, before advising the Air Ministry or Soviets of the change in plans.

Both British bomber squadrons began to take off at 5pm local time. No. 9 Squadron dispatched 18 Lancasters from RAF Bardney and 20 No. 617 Squadron Lancasters departed from RAF Woodhall Spa.
A total of 26 Lancasters were armed with Tallboys and the remainder with JW mines. The Film Unit Lancaster also flew out of Bardney carrying three RAF cameramen as well as an Associated Press journalist and a radio reporter from the BBC
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